Goggles have been employed to protect the eyes of users and in some cases enhance vision, for many years. When worn by a user for eye protection, goggles are especially well adapted to keep dust, wind, gravel, and other particulate out of the eyes of the user. In dry and windy environments such as with the military in a desert environment, goggles are frequently employed to prevent vision impairment that can be caused by wind drying the eyes and particulate entering the eyes. Further, in most environments, goggles may be employed with lens tinting and polarization to both enhance vision and protect the user's eyes from long term exposure to different light spectrums.
However, in many environments, it is particularly useful if the lens engaged with the goggle frame may be replaced or substituted or temporarily removed. Replacement is frequently required when the lens becomes scratched or otherwise damaged. Temporary removal or a substitution of one lens for another from a plurality of cooperatively engageable lenses is particularly useful when the environment of the user changes their vision requirements. For instance if used in a desert environment by the military, during the day a lens which reduces glare and eye damage from radiation and which enhances vision is particularly useful since a soldier depends upon their eyesight for their well being. However that same user in a nighttime employment of goggles in the same environment, may wish to have a clear lens which allows more light to their eyesight or a partially tinted lens which enhances night vision but would not be particularly useful during daylight. On some occasions a temporary removal of the lens may be desirable to allow for temporary unaltered vision.
In order to allow for removal and replacement some type of lens retainment system is required. Historically goggle lenses have been retained by various locking mechanisms that essential operate by friction. Systems have been employed using tapered openings in the frame adapted for a frictional seal around the perimeter of the lens therein. Additionally methods historically employed for lens retainment include shaped indents, hooks, and bezels that surrounded the entire frame and lens.
The basic problem attempted by such prior art is to securely engage the lens in the goggle frame but also allow for an easy change in the field. While the goal of the retainment-system is easy use, the lens must still be secured to resist disengagement in case of impact upon the lens, or distortion of the conventionally flexible goggle frame by brute force.
In most such prior systems, distortion of the frame if the lens is not mechanically engaged to the frame by other than engagement in a slot, will cause the lens to pop out of the frame. The same disengagement with a frictional seal type lens and goggle will occur upon a sharp impact to the semi-rigid lens.
However, if a mechanical engagement of the lens to the frame is employed, other problems occur in that they can be hard to engage and disengage by the user or hard to employ when the user is wearing gloves. Further, if pins and clips are used to mechanically engage the lens to the frame, once separated from the frame, they tend to become lost rendering the goggle useless.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for a goggle having a very secure engagement means for the lens to the goggle frame which provides a mechanical mechanism to hold the lens in a secure engagement. While providing a positive lock of the lens to the frame, such a device must also be easy to operate. Such a goggle engagement system should require no tools to operate since goggles are frequently employed in harsh conditions or in military situations not conducive to tool employment. Further, such a device must insure that all parts employed to lock the lens to the goggle frame, resist becoming lost during a lens disengagement.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other mechanical engagement systems for lenses to goggles and for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
An object of this invention is the provision of a goggle having a lens which is engaged to the goggle frame by a mechanical lock to thereby resist disengagement of the lens from impacts or from contortions of the flexible goggle frame.
A further object of this invention is to provide such a goggle with a lens retainment system which is easy to operate and requires no tools to engage or disengage a lens with the frame.
An additional object of this invention is the provision of such a goggle and lens retainment system which prevents the loss of lens engagement parts during use or lens replacement.
These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of the construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.